Acacia from the Greek 'akakia' and derived from 'ake' or 'akis' meaning a sharp point or thorn and 'akazo' meaning to sharpen. Dioscorides, the Greek physician and botanist used the word in the 1st century AD for the Egyptian thorn tree, Acacia arabica. Rhetinocarpa from the Greek 'rhetine' meaning resin or gum and 'karpos' meaning fruit, referring to the resinous nature of the legume.

Distribution:

Endemic to South Australia and found scattered in a few small areas near the east coast of Eyre Peninsula, east coast of Yorke Peninsula, southern Mount Lofty Ranges and in the Murray region, restricted to the Monarto area; growing in open scrub vegetation associated with Eucalyptus gracilis, E. socialis and E. incrassata on calcareous sand and loamy soil.

Place the pods in a tray and leave to dry for 1-2 weeks or until the pods begin to split. Then rub the dried pods to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

Seed viability:

From four collections, the seed viability was average to high, ranging from 65% to 100%.

Seed germination:

This species has physical dormancy that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate (e.g. nicking or softening the seed coat).

Seeds stored:

Location

No. of seeds(weight grams)

Numberof plants

Datecollected

Collection numberCollection location

Datestored

% Viability

Storagetemperature

BGA

3250 (30.9 g)

6

26-Dec-2005

TJ1Yorke Peninsula

1-Aug-2006

100%

-18°C

BGA MSB

2950 (27.64 g)2950 (27.64 g)

21-Dec-2005

PJA118Murray

1-Aug-2006

80%

-18°C

BGA

5170 (51.73 g)

6

26-Dec-2005

TJ2Yorke Peninsula

1-Aug-2006

75%

-18°C

BGA

600 (3.98 g)

20

16-Dec-2005

PJA114Southern Lofty

1-Aug-2006

65%

-18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.